Best estimates suggest that London needs to be creating between 42,000 and 52,000 homes each year to keep up with demand. But with only 17,000 built in the last year, what chance is there of closing the gap?

Great Portland Estates has a £1bn development pipeline over the next five years, so naturally head of projects James Pellatt is on the hunt for companies of all sizes - just so long as they have a sense of humour. He talks to Emily Wright

With 25-year leases expiring all over the City, this was meant to be a boom time for commercial development in central London. So why are so many of the most prestigious schemes either on hold or sitting empty? Building reports

The Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee have given the capital a real lift this year and all sorts of projects that were languishing in the design drawer are now busily being prepared, spurred on by civic pride and that unyielding deadline. Ike Ijeh looks at the best of them

Traffic restrictions set for the six weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games are designed to help cope with unprecedented levels of visitors to the capital. But could London’s other construction projects end up in a jam?

Dixon Jones’ £28m reworking of South Kensington’s great museum quarter, Exhibition Road, resolves the long stand-off between pedestrians and cars by allowing them to share the same space. Ike Ijeh is knocked over by the simplicity of the design. Photographs by Tim Crocker

Styles & Wood has had a tough few years, taking huge hits as the retail fit-out market nose-dived. Building finds out how new boss Tony Lenehan plans to turn things round - and why you could be seeing more of the northern-based firm in London

This is the tale of a theatre project, backed by Lord Sugar, that landed its client with a £3.2m headache. Now eight years on there’s a legal battle over a bond between the insurer and the theatre owner

The London office market revival could be the boost that curtain walling contractors need. So what are the options in terms of cost, and meeting Part L requirements? Steve Mudie of Davis Langdon, an Aecom company, reports

The Olympic Delivery Authority’s new boss has kept his cool in the furore over the Games’ legacy. He’s more concerned with meeting those unmissable deadlines and ensuring the ODA itself bows out with grace

After nine years, two architects and £1bn, the controversial BBC Broadcasting House refurbishment is winding up. But is it a feat of architectural elegance and practicality, or just another prime-time flop?

Turner & Townsend’s Robert Deatker is the man responsible for ensuring the smooth delivery of one of the UK’s most mind-bogglingly complex schemes - the 2 million ft2 London Bridge Quarter, which includes the 310m Shard. And he’s determined to pull it off

Mike Bear, the new Lord Mayor of London, doesn’t intend to spend his year in office admiring the soft furnishings. He has 700 speeches to deliver, 23 countries to visit, and a plan to restore the City’s status as a world leader in development. And he still hopes to find time to make us learn to love bankers … But before all that, he spoke to Emily Wright